Quote of the Day

Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, <a href="http://www.campaignfinanceinstitute.org/states/pdf/CFI_to_IL_Jt-Legis-C…; target="”_blank”">testifying</a>
to the Illinois legislature's Joint Committee on Government Reform this
week (Illinois is one of five states with no limits on campaign
contributions; it requires only disclosure. It is also a leading state
in prosecutions of government officials, both local and state):<br>
<br>
"[T]his committee heard testimony
yesterday from The Center for Competitive Politics. The Center recently
released a study claiming to show there to be no correlation between
contribution limits and corruption. The problem is that the study's
definition of corruption is the Justice Department's record of
convictions for federal corrupt practices. In my view, it is absurd to
be looking for a correlation between this kind of criminal corruption
and contribution limits. People who are willing to skirt the edges of
criminal behavior are not likely to be deterred from taking bribes by a
law that limits campaign contributions. But that is hardly the point.<br>
<br>
"The vast majority of public officials
are decent, hard working people who will be guided by the standards
around them. The problem is not with what is outside the law but with
what is permitted and encouraged<i> inside</i> it. The
criminal law should only be used for what is rare. It rubs a civil
society raw when the first and only sanctions it offers are ones that
involve impeachment or jail time. It<br>
also damages every single public servant unfairly. For their sake as
well as the public good, it is important to have a middle step between
disclosure-only and jail."<br>
<br>